One Small Step Towards You
by scifiromance
Summary: An insight into Seven and Chakotay's minds during the events of "One Small Step".
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: As it says in this description, this story is set during "One Small Step". I hope you enjoy it and thanks to Sweetdeath04 and lisac1965 for supporting this idea.**

Chakotay's head jolted drowsily up from the book he was reading, a twentieth century novel called "Catch 22", as his doorbell rang out through the semi-darkness. "Come in." He called in the door's general direction, although he was both intrigued and worried by who would possibly come to his quarters at two in the morning while he was trying to read himself to sleep. A few silent moments passed before the doorbell rang again, exactly as before. "Come in!" He now practically shouted, becoming even more irritated as it rang again. With a growl of tired frustration he stood up, headed for the door and stuck his head out into the corridor as the doors obligingly opened at his approach, but as was to be expected at 0200 hours, it was empty. He was alone. Groaning in dread he tapped his comm. badge, hopefully whatever was causing the ship to malfunction this time wasn't too weird and wonderful… "Chakotay to the Bridge."

There was a confused pause on the other end of the line, "This is Transporter Room 2 Commander."

"What?" Chakotay sighed in agitation, "Well, can you patch me through to the Bridge?"

The line crackled with interference. "Patch…Patch you through where?" A bemused new voice asked through the static.

Chakotay frowned in disbelief as he recognised the voice, "Neelix?"

"Commander?" Neelix began to reply before his was completely drowned out by tens of others, all speaking together as an indecipherable crowd. Biting back another sigh anticipating trouble ahead, Chakotay turned off his comm. badge and snatched up his uniform jacket before heading out to investigate.

* * *

><p>"I see you're making some modifications to the Computer core." Chakotay said tersely as he entered Astrometrics and saw Seven just had he had envisioned her, bent over the console and absorbed in methodically altering each one of the computer core's files as they made their way onto her console.<p>

"The Computer core was inefficient and in need of improvement. I am upgrading the command controls by integrating Borg algorithms" Seven coolly explained without turning away from her work to face him.

Chakotay took a deep breath, remembering his resolution to cut Seven a little slack after that sad incident with her old Unimatrix, he realised her Borg habits were difficult ones to break. "I appreciate your initiative but your modifications are wrecking havoc with the secondary systems." He informed her carefully.

If he'd been expecting some sort of apology from her he was sadly mistaken. She gave the smallest of shrugs and replied, "Some insignificant malfunctions, I will correct them."

Chakotay's hackles rose, if there was one thing he didn't like it was being completely ignored! "I don't remember authorising any modifications." He responded sharply.

Seven heard the warning in his tone and breathed an irritated sigh, why did everyone always seem to suspect her motives whenever she started a project? The malfunctions _were _minor and she had believed that she was limiting disruption by doing the work after peak working hours. Clenching her fists to release some of this pointless frustration, she replied tightly, "I _did _suggest these modifications to Lieutenant Torres on a number of occasions but she ignored me." She straightened her shoulders defiantly as she felt his eyes on her, "I though a demonstration would alter her lie of thinking."

Chakotay nearly snorted, didn't she realise that playing around with the ship's systems behind the hot headed Chief Engineer's back would only make B'Elanna even less inclined to listen to her than she was now? "I doubt this will change her mind." He told her bluntly, his frown deepening as Astrometrics' doors began to open and close on their own and lights began to flicker.

Seven remained silent for a moment or two as she mentally catalogued the malfunctions, perhaps her plan had been flawed, but the waves of agitation rolling off Chakotay made her disinclined to admit it. Instead she let him see that she was starting the corrections before saying, "It seems that Voyager is not yet ready for assimilation." When she didn't get the laugh she'd been told by the Doctor to anticipate she glanced at his face to read a mixture of disbelief and repulsion in his openly staring dark eyes. She felt a slight blush creep up her neck as she realised that her first attempt at humour had backfired and quickly clarified, "A joke Commander. The Doctor advised me to defuse tense situations with humour."

Chakotay breathed a jerky laugh as he caught her raised eyebrow, not wanting her to realise how seriously he taken her, and said as he stepped away, "Good idea!" He couldn't keep a note of sarcasm from his voice, "Now maybe you could get the Computer back up and running so that I can go back to reading my book…" He was cut off as the ship gave a shudder and the room went almost pitch black.

Seven answered his unspoken question almost immediately, "We are experiencing a ship wide power drain…" She shot him a pointedly defensive look as she caught him frowning questioningly at her, "It is unrelated to my modifications." To prove her point she activated Astrometrics' viewscreen, which showed a larger and more threatening anomaly than even she had expected.

"What the hell…" Chakotay began to ask under his breath, but before she could try to satisfy him with an answer their comm. badges jumped into life.

"Senior officers report to the Bridge." Harry Kim ordered, taking advantage of his night shift on the Bridge. Without a word both Seven and Chakotay forgot their little conflict and headed together up to the Bridge.

* * *

><p>"Computer, locate Commander Chakotay." Seven asked the Computer as she did a final once over of her shield modifications to the Delta Flyer and picked up the PADD of specifications she was to give the Commander to assess.<p>

"Commander Chakotay is in Astrometrics." The Computer responded. With a short sigh, Seven began the short journey to Astrometrics in an agitated stride, recalling all the Cubes and Spheres the Collective had lost to Spacial Anomaly 521, or as Starfleet designated it, a "graviton ellipse". She understood that the crew's mission was to explore as much as possible, but why take such risks for an ancient human spacecraft they already knew was lost within? The Captain had explained her reasoning for ordering her on this mission was that she needed to gain an appreciation of history in order to fully regain her humanity, which seemed illogical to Seven, if she couldn't learn what was required of her from living humans what could she possibly gain from dead ones? She sighed as she reached Astrometrics' doors, there seemed to be no point in resisting this mission any more, the generally astute Chakotay seemed to have a level of determined sentimentality about this mission, and even Tuvok had voiced his approval, there was no denying the mission would certainly be more achievable if she put her misgivings aside and made the best of her "voluntary" away mission.

She walked in to find Chakotay and Tom talking animatedly, Chakotay saying, "…Kelly, Kakogawa, Armstrong and Glenn, they were the real pioneers."

"Am I interrupting?" she asked politely as she made her presence known to them.

Tom shook his head and indicated the frozen image on the viewsceen of the Aries 4's commander. "No, just admiring those who went before."

Seven raised an eyebrow at both men, "Hero worship, the glorification of an individual's achievements." She stated matter-of-factly, reeling off a dictionary's definition with robotic ease.

Chakotay gave her a small smile, "I guess you didn't have many role models growing up." He said softly.

Seven's brow furrowed, she'd never liked the human penchant for stating the obvious, but the sadness and pity in his tone unnerved her, pushing her to stoically reply, "The Collective consider personal achievements irrelevant." Seeing the familiar uneasy expression settle on the two men's faces that always followed any comment about the Collective, she quickly pressed the PADD into Chakotay's hands. "The shield modifications to the Delta Flyer are complete. We are ready for launch."

This time it was Chakotay's turn to raise his eyebrows, "We?" he echoed, trying to keep the incredulity out of his voice for the sake of politeness and failing miserably.

Seven nodded brusquely, "You will require someone familiar with Borg technology to monitor the shielding so I am…volunteering." Her voice caught slightly on the word as she remembered the Captain's rather patronising way of ordering her to join this mission, by "encouraging her to volunteer", a phrase which still struck Seven as a juxtaposition of terms.

Tom gave an awkward chuckle. "You don't sound too happy about it!"

"I'm not." Seven replied with guiltless honesty, after all the Captain hadn't bothered to "encourage" her to be _happy_ about going. When she saw their confused looks she explained, "My inclusion will improve this mission's chances of success."

"If that's the case…" Chakotay said quietly, giving her arm a supportive squeeze after picking up on the barely perceptible nerves in her tone, "Welcome aboard."

* * *

><p>"It's amazing! I wish you could all see it." Chakotay enthused through the comm. line to Voyager several hours later as the three of them sat in the Delta Flyer watching the contents of the ellipse's core float aimlessly around them.<p>

"We all wish that too Commander, but for now we'll need to make do with your descriptions." Janeway replied from Voyager's Bridge.

Chakotay laughed light-heartedly, "Well, if I ever lose something this is the first place I'd look, we should rename it the "Kitchen Sink Anomaly" with the amount of stuff that's in here, and the plasma inside gives off a certain sheen, almost like moonlight…"

"It's the newest romantic hotspot B'Elanna!" Tom joked to his wife.

"I'll keep it in mind for our next vacation." B'Elanna replied in the same tone.

When the laughter had died down the Captain's voice came through, "And what do you think of it Seven?"

Seven flushed slightly as her two colleagues in the Flyer looked at her expectantly, "I suppose it's an…intriguing environment." She conceded reluctantly, "I have found evidence of extra-dimensional material."

"Interesting…" The Captain began to reply but was interrupted by Tuvok.

"The anomaly has changed direction by 0.002 of a degree. I approximate that it will return to subspace in 5 hours and 16 minutes."

"You heard him Chakotay." The Captain said firmly, "It's time to find the module and get out of there."

"Understood Captain." Chakotay said quickly, "Delta Flyer out." He sat back in his chair as the comm. line clicked off, "That should give Seven and I enough time to run some more scans while you find the module Tom."

"Aye sir." Tom agreed with a smile, but Seven appeared shaken and avoided Chakotay's eye.

"I believe our time would be better spent completing our mission and returning to Voyager." She stated tersely.

Chakotay was in too good a mood to argue with her and instead just pulled her to her feet with a gentle tug. "Come on, this isn't just about the module, it's about widening our horizons!" He headed off towards the small lab in the back of the ship, turning around when he knew she wasn't following him, "Come on, it's an order." With an impatient, long suffering sigh, Seven bowed her head and followed him.

* * *

><p>"This ore shows signs of containing some sort of metal infused organism." Seven intoned as she scanned the piece of rock on the table in front of her. She almost jumped out of her skin when Chakotay appeared at her shoulder, beaming his enthusiasm as he picked up the chunk of rock and handled it.<p>

"Really? We always speculated about the existence of metallic based life forms but…" He realised she was staring at him blankly, obviously bemused by his irrepressible excitement. "Here, take it." He told her firmly, pressing the rock into her metal encased left hand, "You're holding a piece of the universe's history in your hand, this was here 3 billion years before the Earth was even formed!"

Seven studied the rock sceptically for a moment, "Unlikely." She murmured dismissively before placing the rock back on the table.

"It's not as unlikely as you'd think. This anomaly is one of the oldest things we've ever come across, I'd happily spend my whole life studying what's in here."

Seven frowned at him uneasily, unsure whether he was serious. "And leave Voyager without a First Officer?"

His lips twisted in a wry smile, though Seven saw some pain in it, "They'd manage." He sighed heavily, "Palaeontology was always my first love, it's why I joined Starfleet."

Seven carefully observed his wistful face, intrigued. "Why didn't you pursue it?" she asked quietly.

He gave a soft self-deprecating laugh, "My sense of responsibility got in the way, first the Maquis, then Voyager…" He felt colour rush to his face as he saw how intently Seven's crystalline blue eyes were focused on his face, why in the world was he pouring his life's doubts out to Seven of all people?

Seven saw his discomfort and obligingly averted her eyes, still considering what he had told her. To push aside such a passionate dream for his responsibility for others was admirable, it wasn't the intense individualism of humanity she was used to the crew giving her, and yet he seemed ashamed of his selflessness, as if he had failed in some way… Chakotay clearing his throat pulled her attention back towards the man himself, rather than his characteristics. "What did you want to be, before you were assimilated?" he asked abruptly.

Seven stiffened, why was _that _relevant? "I was assimilated as a child, I did not dream of becoming anything."

Chakotay knew he'd hit a nerve and changed tact by offering something himself, "I knew I wanted to be a palaeontologist when I was six."

Seven sighed, he'd somehow obligated her to respond. "A…A bal…ballerina." She admitted, surprised by the regret that flooded her and the tears that burned behind her eyes as she was confronted by the childhood memory.

Chakotay found himself gulping as he saw her back shudder painfully. It was such a typical thing for a little girl to dream of that he knew it was true, brutally so, and now here she was, even further from being a ballerina than he was a palaeontologist, life could play cruel tricks… Realising that an awkward silence had fallen, he said, as lightly as he could, "There's still time…"

Thinking he was laughing at her, Seven muttered in self-frustration, "It was a juvenile fantasy…"

He brushed her shoulder with warm fingers, forcing her to look at him, "Those are the ones that stick with you." He said with gently with genuine sincerity. Seven didn't have time to reply before the ship gave a shudder and Tom's voice echoed through to them.

"We're hitting a lot of turbulence, I don't think we'll be able to stay much longer, but I don't think we'll need to, I just located the module." Tom told them.

**A/n: This was going to be a one-shot, but there are too many good scenes in this episode to squish into one chapter! PLEASE REVIEW! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: Thanks to TheFoundersDaughter for putting up chapter 14 of "Amy" last night. :D**

Chakotay ran to the front of the Flyer, narrowly avoiding slamming his head against a bulkhead in his eagerness to see Tom's discovery. "Well, where…" He began excitedly, until he saw the Mars command module, amazingly intact, float right past the front of their vessel, almost brushing its nose. "Wow…" He whispered in utter awe.

Tom twisted around in his pilot's chair, beaming like a child who'd just found a lost favourite toy. "I know! It's great isn't it? One downside though, we never expected to find more than a fragment, how are we supposed to bring something of this size back?"

Chakotay frantically considered the problem, never taking his eyes off the module as he thought out loud, "Maybe we could adapt a tractor beam?" He glanced quickly over at Seven for an answer but she remained silent, tight lipped with doubt and disapproval.

Thankfully Tom spoke up after a few seconds of studying his console, though his voice hardly rang with confidence, "Umm…I think so."

"Get started on it then." He ordered decisively, shooting Seven a sharp look when she didn't move to help. He was sure he heard a sigh leave her lips as she sat down at her console and set to work.

They had barely begun when Captain Janeway's voice filtered through the comm. system. "Voyager to Delta Flyer…"

Chakotay reluctantly pulled his attention away from the tractor beam modifications and the scans of the module. "Yes Captain?"

"The ellipse is on a collision course with a dark matter asteroid, you have less than four minutes to get out of there Commander!"

Chakotay's fists clenched around the console as angry disappointment flooded through him and, following his gut feeling, called over to Tom, "How long until we can activate the tractor beam?"

Tom frowned at him with uneasy incredulity, "Another minute or so, but…"

Chakotay cut him off in order to plead his case to the Captain, "The Mars Orbitor is right in front of us, we just need a minute to finish adapting the tractor beam…"

"That's a minute you don't have Commander!" She told him sharply.

"Captain, I…" Chakotay began to argue desperately.

"You are to get back here, _now_! That's an order…" The Flyer rolled wildly to one side as gravimetric interference struck its bow, instantly severing the comm. line.

Chakotay pushed himself back upright again and ran over to the main console, "Activate the tractor beam, we have to salvage the module!"

"Sir…" Tom began worriedly but quickly became distracted by avoiding more shocks of interference.

Seven was more pointed in her disapproval, leaping angrily to her feet as the ship shook, "Commander!" She exclaimed hotly in disbelief.

He wheeled around to face both of them, glaring. "I gave you an order!" he snarled in frustration over the din of the ellipse's rapid progression.

Tom paled in shock at the uncharacteristic outburst from the mild mannered Commander, even Seven stepped back from him, tense and staring."Yes sir…" Tom replied quietly, "I have a tractor lock on the module."

"Good." Chakotay said tersely, "Let's head for home."

Tom nodded distractedly as the ship surged forward at the order of his skilled hands, a frown set deep in his brow, "The module's slowing us down…"

"We'll make it." Chakotay reassured him as the edge of the anomaly came into view.

"Yeah…" Tom began tightly, but he spoke too soon. Just as they were breaking through the ellipse it made contact with the asteroid, sending shock waves through the Delta Flyer, one of which found an outlet in the plasma conduit of Chakotay's console, the explosion sending him flying backwards. Seven and Tom could barely choke out horrified gasps as the G-forces which flung the Delta Flyer back into the core as if it were a ball in a pinball machine pinned them to their chairs, helpless.

* * *

><p>"How badly is he damaged?"<p>

Tom looked up from the grim readings the tricorder was giving him as he ran it over Chakotay's unconscious body, feeling real anxiety grip his heart as he saw his own fear reflected in the former drone's normally impassive face. "He has a serious concussion and a critical level of internal bleeding. We have to get him back to Voyager."

Seven bit her lip, her posture tensing up even further. "That will be difficult. All secondary systems, the shields and the engines are inoperable." She took a deep breath as he stared up at her in horror, "I can restore the shields, but the engines are unsalvageable."

Tom gulped hard, "It can't be _that _bad…" He began, but Seven stopped him immediately, not being the type to foster false hope.

"It's _worse_." She stated unequivocally, "The anomaly is showing signs of returning to sub-space; we have less than two hours."

* * *

><p>Seven shuddered violently as she heard weak groans coming from the biobed where Chakotay lay and snapped her head around to look worriedly at Tom, who, with the most serious expression she'd ever seen on his face, studied the tricorder results. "He's regaining consciousness…" Seven quickly abandoned her, mostly futile, attempts at repairs and joined the Lieutenant by their commanding officer's bedside as he woke.<p>

"Ugh…" Chakotay groaned brokenly as his eyes reluctantly opened to see Tom and Seven's pale faces staring down at him. "I...feel like I've had…ten rounds with an Andorian…" He forced the words out despite aching, struggling lungs.

"More like twenty." Tom answered tightly, "You were hit by a plasma discharge when the asteroid caught us on the way out, we were thrown back into the core of the anomaly."

Chakotay fought to focus, his eyes skittish with pain. "The module…"

Tom felt Seven stiffen beside him but decided to answer, "It's loose, about 300 metres off our port bow..."

Chakotay gasped in relief, trying to sit up. "Then we can still salvage it…"

Tom shook his head, "Not so fast. We haven't even got propulsion or shields online, let alone the tractor beam!"

Chakotay glared at him and tried to swing his legs off the biobed, "Then you'll need my help to…"

Tom pinned him to the biobed with surprising strength, "You're in worse shape than this ship!" He retorted forcefully, "The only way you can help is by staying in bed, doctor's orders!" Just as Chakotay stopped resisting and sighed in resignation, the ship rocked violently. "Another gravimetric surge." Tom concluded shortly, "I'll go and see what I can do to stabilise the structural integrity field." As he headed towards the front section of the ship, he gave Seven a pointed look then glanced back at Chakotay, in a gesture Seven took to mean, stay with him. She nodded curtly, although in light of recent events the Commander was the last person she wished to be alone with, and reluctantly returned to the console nearest his biobed.

After a few minutes of listening to Seven's frustrated attempts to restore power, Chakotay decided to assist as he could, "Try rerouting auxiliary life support."

"That system was also damaged." Seven replied coldly without turning to look at him.

Chakotay winced, "What about the secondary power couplings?"

"They are offline as well." Seven said curtly, fighting to keep her composure.

Chakotay exhaled heavily, "That doesn't leave us with many choices…" He admitted quietly. Seven sighed, though more out of relief than joint resignation, perhaps his destructive interference would finally cease! She was wrong. "How about if you assessed the phaser banks and…" He began to muse.

Seven's self control began to crumble as she cut him off, her icy tone taking a razor sharp edge, "We explored that option while you were unconscious!"

Bristling at her dismissive tone, Chakotay couldn't stop himself from retorting coldly, "Well if that's the case, maybe you should give me an update."

"There is no time!" Seven shot back, grinding her teeth painfully to pull back her rage, "I suggest you recuperate. We have everything under control."

There she was, ignoring him again, even at a time like this when cooperation as essential! He'd been insane to bring her on this mission… "It doesn't look like it from here!" He snapped. As she made no sound or movement in reply, Chakotay felt himself begin to explode, riled up by her obstinacy, "I am still this mission's commanding officer! I have a right to know what's going on!"

Seven's already brittle sense of restraint snapped as he yelled at her. What gave him the right to be so demanding? This was entire situation was his fault! Spinning around to face him with the speed of a tornado, her face taunt and glaring, she began with deceptive calm, "Very well." She took a deep breath to fuel the flames of rage and blame that sparked in her blue eyes, "The Captain gave you a direct order to leave this anomaly but you blatantly disobeyed her. As a result of your _obsession _with the module we are now trapped along with it and are unlikely to survive without…"

"Point taken!" Chakotay flung back at her with the same level of volume and breathless passion as she had thrown at him, fuming. How dare she accuse _him _of disobedience when she flaunted orders at very opportunity? He mentally raged but choked back the words when he was met with her stony, defiant gaze, he was in control here. "Now, give me a full damage report, _without_ the attitude." He ordered her with feigned calm.

Seven had to fight the sudden and violent urge to slap him, her body quivering with suppressed emotion. Instead she coolly picked up a PADD, "A full inventory of damage." She explained, stepping back from him, "_Read it yourself_!" she snapped hotly, practically throwing the PADD at him before turning sharply on her heel and storming over to the most distant console in the room. If he hadn't already been on a biobed she would've put him on one at that moment! Gradually though as she leaned heavily on the console, her body shaking, shock began to replace anger. What had she just done? She'd acted like an out of control…human. Such emotional volatility was unacceptable! She'd always prided herself on not reacting to the crew's provocations, no matter how irritating, and now she'd _thrown_ a PADD at her First Officer in an uncontrolled rage, how humiliating…

Chakotay sighed as he rubbed the painful spot on his thigh where Seven's missile, in the form of a PADD, had struck him, if he could say one thing for her, she had good aim. Slowly he turned his face to watch her shuddering back and shame and guilt began to fill him, so much for being in control! He knew it was fear that had driven Seven to lash out; really he should have taken her comments on the chin and not allowed himself to stoop to a shouting match. He tried in vain to remember when he'd last been pushed that far, but couldn't. He was generally so good as keeping himself in check, almost as good as she was, but Seven just seemed to push his emotional buttons… "I made a mistake…" He admitted quietly, sighing when she didn't respond, "I put the mission at risk…" He continued heavily.

"You put our _lives_ at risk!" Seven corrected sharply, Chakotay's brow furrowed at the shrillness in her tone, the sob he could almost hear at the back of her throat.

He waited until she'd slumped weakly back over the console before trying again to cut through the tension. "Well, consider this, maybe in a couple of hundred years someone will come in here looking for _us_." Seven spun around, finally facing him again, her even so slightly reddened eyes narrowed with pain and resentment. "Defuse tense situations with humour, remember?" he reminded her with a weak smile.

She blinked, her head dipping to hide a tiny upward movement of her lips. He was watching her expression closely enough though to see her reaction and smirked at her knowingly. After a moment she returned the look with her trademark raised eyebrow, the tension suddenly gone between them. She had to admit he was much better at the technique than she was…

The unexpected crackle of the comm. line shattered her thoughts and turned her attention back to the console as the Captain's voice broke through the interference, "Voy…Voyager to the…Del…Delta…Flyer…"

"We're here Captain!" Chakotay called back in relief.

"They're using a probe to transmit a signal. I'll reset our frequency." Seven told him as she did so, "Voyager, this is the Delta Flyer."

"Are you alright?" The Captain asked anxiously, her voice now clear.

"We're all still here. There's a lot of damage but we're all still alive. It's good to here your voice." Chakotay told her as calmly as he could, exchanging a warm smile of relief with Seven.

**A/n: Argh, I **_**still **_**haven't used up all the cute scenes this episode provides! Another chapter beckons! (This is getting ridiculous!) Anyway I hope you're still enjoying it and looking for more. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW and thanks for all the support so far! :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n: Thanks to xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx for updating "The Borg with Butterfly Wings". :D**

"You said the power couplings are completely fused?" B'Elanna asked over the now stable comm. line, although the image of Voyager's Briefing Room Chakotay, Seven and Tom were all watching was far less reliable, Tom ached to see the frown of concentration he knew from experience was etched on his wife's face as she spoke.

"Correct." Seven replied quietly, managing to suppress the downhearted sigh that rose in her throat.

Tom sat back in his pilot's with a groan of frustration, "It wouldn't be that bad if the replicators were online and then we could just whip up a new plasma manifold and be on our way!"

B'Elanna's voice was suddenly warily edged with excitement, "What if I could find you a new plasma manifold?"

"From where?" Chakotay asked bluntly, lapsing into a fit of coughing as his battered body resisted the effort of talking.

"From the module!" B'Elanna answered as if stating the obvious, jumping into her explanation before her curious crewmates could interrupt her, "It may be over three centuries old, but the module's propulsion system isn't _that_ different from the Flyer's. It has a component called a…" She checked the records on the computer, "…ion distributor, with a few modifications it could be adapted to regulate plasma!"

Seven's cool voice broke her bubble, "You forget Lieutenant that not only would we need to adapt the component within the remaining 81 minutes we have left, but we'd _also _need to locate _and _salvage it."

The Captain stepped in, seeing the makings of a workable plan despite Seven's misgivings, "Tom, do you have enough power to transport someone over to the module and back?"

"I think so Captain!" Tom exclaimed in relief after checking his console. Quickly, he jumped to his feet, "I'll go…"

Janeway gave a decisive shake of the head, "No Tom, if another graviton surge hits, you'll be needed at the helm…"

Seven stood up with a heavy, resigned sigh, having already seen the writing on the wall. "Are you encouraging me to volunteer _again_ Captain?" she asked tensely, hands clenched behind her back.

Well, that explains a lot! Chakotay thought guiltily, if he'd known the Captain had pressurised Seven into going he'd have never let her come, no wonder she'd taken all this so badly… He sighed, he should have known, the Captain always had an ulterior motive for sanctioning anything…

The Captain gave a dry chuckle at her protégé's remark, "You read my mind."

* * *

><p>"Ironic isn't it?" Chakotay commented as he watched Seven climb into the spacesuit from his place at the biobed. She shot him an uneasy, questioning look, one eyebrow raised, and he obligingly explained, "That you're doing what I've always dreamed of doing, walking into a piece of history."<p>

Seven bit her lip as she picked up the suit's helmet, unsettled by the thought that he was envious of her task, that she had somehow hijacked his beloved dream. "History is irrelevant." She told him stiffly, lapsing back into Borg propaganda as she generally did when something upset her.

Chakotay's face paled for a moment as he took in her works, genuine shock filling his dark eyes. "_Irrelevant_?" he echoed in disbelief, taking a deep steadying breath as her face remained stubbornly impassive. "Do me a favour…" He asked her softly, "Download as many of Kelly's files as you can and remember to take a look around, so you can tell us what it was like."

Seven pursed her lips, she'd didn't think she'd be able to give him the kind of description he desired. "There may not be time…" She began to warn him but stopped as she saw his expression, suddenly struck with the feeling that she was denying a six year old Chakotay the chance to play with dinosaurs. Sighing a little, she added, "…but I will try."

The dimpled grin which she got in reward lit his eyes, making her feel oddly glad of her concession. He gave her arm a reassuring pat as she moved to put on the helmet. "Good luck." He told her warmly. Suddenly feeling shy, she gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement before clipping the helmet over her head and checking it systems.

"Ready Seven?" Tom asked from the helm far in front of them.

"Yes Lieutenant." She replied and within a blink of Chakotay's eye she was gone, though his thoughts still lingered on her, it seemed she was worth all the patience and effort to get through to her after all.

* * *

><p>Seven fought disorientation and momentary panic as she re-materialised in pitch blackness, even her enhanced eye gave her little insight as to what lay ahead of her. She didn't even have time to switch on her torch before Tom's voice filtered through the comm. line, "So, what's it like?" he asked excitedly.<p>

"Dark." She answered impatiently as she finally managed to locate the torch on her suit and switch it on, filling the cramped vessel with just enough light for her to clearly make out buttons on the lifeless consoles and people the space with eerie shadows. Slowly she moved forward, trying to ignore how the ghostly metallic thud of her boots constantly reminded her how alone she was. A sigh of relief clouded her helmet's visor as she finally spotted the panel in which the ion distributor was encased. After making quick work of the panel, she tapped her comm. badge, "I have located the distributor and am now recovering it and beginning the modifications."

"Good." Chakotay replied, the reassuring quality of his deep voice managing to slow the rate of her heartbeat considerably, "Can you access Kelly's logs from where you are?"

"Yes…" Seven answered tightly, irritated by him wasting her very limited time with such an irrelevant preoccupation.

"Play them for us." He must have heard her agitated sigh for he laughed softly, the sound catching in his bruised chest, "Consider it…my last request Seven." Seven had to bite her tongue hard to stop herself reacting angrily to such a cruel attempt at humour and instead took on her frustration on the buttons which activated the logs before returning to work; a dead man's voice her only form of company.

* * *

><p>"I really don't regret doing this Dad…" Commander Kelly's voice echoed through the comm. system, his voice dreamy with oxygen deprivation after sacrificing life support for scanners, "I always wanted to fly, you remember my first flight? A parachute made of blankets from the roof, my aerodynamics was seriously off, but I was only six…" Seven blinked to soothe her burning eyes as she looked around the vessel that had become Kelly's coffin. He'd been alone, desperately so, and yet… "No, I don't regret it." Kelly reiterated, "I've done what I've always wanted, Hell, I may have discovered one of the most amazing spacial anomalies ever…" Seven couldn't help but admire the man's resilience and unbroken sprit, she was already crumbling after just over 76 minutes here…<p>

Tom's voice interrupted her thoughts, "You have four minutes Seven, or else we won't have time to get out of this thing even if the distributor works!"

"I am disconnecting the distributor now Lieutenant, stand by." Seven replied as Kelly's voice went on in the background.

"I'm not afraid to die…" He rasped, "There is one thing I…regret though…I'll never know…who won the World Series…" Seven felt a sob of relief of grief for him and relief for her herself rush from her throat as the distributor fell into her hands, ready for use.

"Seven, are you ready?" Tom asked her urgently.

"Yes, I…" Seven stopped as she stood up, her eyes catching Commander Kelly's face on the console's screen. Impulsively she pulled out her tricorder, "Wait! I'm downloading Commander Kelly's database!"

"Wha…" Tom began but she stopped him as the tricorder said it had finished.

"Ready Lieu…" She started to say as she turned around, a choked gasp of horror being punched from her chest as she saw a body sitting in front of her. His face was unchanged, as pristine behind his suit's visor as hers was, he looked asleep… She wrenched the comm. badge from her suit and clipped it to his, "Lock on to both my lifesign and my comm. badge signal for transport!" she shouted down the comm. line.

"What? Why?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Comply!" she snapped back and within a few seconds she had materialised back on the Delta Flyer.

As she sat on the floor, the distributor in her hands and the lifeless corpse beside her, she heard Chakotay's ragged gasp of shock as he saw what she'd brought, "My God…" He breathed in stunned disbelief, fixing awestruck eyes on her pale face, "Seven, you…"

"Yes." She murmured briefly, scrambling up to activate the distributor, not wanting to be accused of hypocrisy for risking the mission even more than he had just hours before. "Propulsion is online!" She shouted over to Tom, who immediately slammed the engines on at full speed.

"Hold on! We're in for a bumpy ride!" He called back at both of them. The warning was well founded, but that didn't diminish their elation as the Flyer pierced the edge of the ellipse and Voyager's tractor beam guided them to safety.

* * *

><p>Chakotay fought to stay awake under the effects of the Doctor's pain medication, even as he listened to the Captain's eulogy for Commander Kelly with a heavy heart. It seems as if they'd just lost him, he'd been a true friend while they'd been out there. "…and so as one of the great examples to those who make space their home, past, present and future, we together commit Commander John Mark Kelly to space, he will never be forgotten." The Captain finished and Chakotay sank back on the biobed, trying to fill the emptiness in his heart her words hadn't satisfied him. If only the Doctor had let him leave Sickbay to say a few words himself…<p>

Suddenly, Seven's voice echoed through the comm. line, "Captain?" Janeway mumbled something to her and she continued in a clearer voice, though he couldn't help but be surprised by the level of emotion in it, "I did not know this individual…" She began, "…yet I feel connected with him." She sighed self-deprecatingly, "When I left for this mission, I believed history to be irrelevant, but I was wrong. In Commander Kelly's search for meaning in space, I see parallels with my own search for perfection and I realise now that it was his actions and those of many others that led me to be here as I am, and as such I owe him a great debt." Chakotay swallowed the lump of emotion in his throat, for someone who didn't seem to have much grasp of the concept of individuality, Seven had given Commander Kelly a more _personal_ goodbye than the Captain or himself ever could… Over the comm. line he heard her footsteps, then a whisper he doubted many people in the room could hear and he was only privy to because of her comm. badge, "The Yankees beat the Kings by four runs."

The Doctor walked back into Sickbay a few minutes later to find Chakotay sitting up with a soft smile on his face.

* * *

><p>"So…" B'Elanna began as she looped arms with Tom as they walked together back to their quarters, "What was it like being on an away mission with Seven and Chakotay?"<p>

Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose and breathed a dry chuckle as he stopped mid-step. "Remember when you told me Chakotay doesn't lose his temper, just gets all disappointed in whoever he's angry with until they feel guilty and back down?"

B'Elanna's brow furrowed, "Yeah, that's all true."

"Not when he goes toe to toe with Seven of Nine its not. They…well, let's just say sparks were flying."

B'Elanna stiffened. "Come on Tom, it's Seven! She'd drive a saint to lose his temper!" She reminded him, defensive of her friend's temperament.

Tom chuckled, "That's a little harsh, some people would say that that about you!" B'Elanna looked up at him defiantly and he smiled at her lovingly before a thought struck him, "Actually, the two of them back there reminded me a little of us."

"_Us_?" B'Elanna echoed incredulously, "Chakotay and _Seven_? What the hell's _that _supposed to mean?"

Tom smirked at her mischievously, "I'm just saying their arguments gave me flashbacks to us back in the day, when we were at each other's throats one minute and then…"

B'Elanna hit him on the arm as they finally reached their quarters. "No more speculation on other people's feelings tonight flyboy, I want you completely focused on _me_..."

Tom lifted her off the floor and carried her through the open doors. "Who do you think _I _was thinking of while I was stuck out there, hmm?" He murmured as he kissed her ear. B'Elanna responded by kissing deeply on the lips, tears of relief sliding down her face as his grip on her tightened and he continued further into the room, the doors closing behind him.

* * *

><p>"Can I presume that database is keeping you suitably diverted during your stay here Commander?" The Doctor asked Chakotay, who was absorbed in the content of the PADD in his hands, while he scanned him.<p>

"I'm fine Doctor." Chakotay replied quickly, his eyes again on the PADD, "I can't believe Seven managed to download the _entire_ database…"

"You doubt my thoroughness Commander?" A shaky voice asked quietly from the doorway.

Chakotay grinned widely when he saw Seven. "Another joke?" he teased her lightly.

She bowed her head sheepishly for a moment before meeting his gaze again, "The Doctor told me you're recovering faster than expected, that is good news." She said softly as she gingerly approached his biobed.

"Yeah, I should be fit for duty again in another day or so." He replied cheerily before frowning slightly as he saw her unsettled expression, "Are you okay Seven? I know this was a…difficult mission for you…"

"I am still adapting to being back on Voyager." She admitted.

"That's understandable." Chakotay assured her, noticing how uncomfortable she looked and indicating the nearest chair, "Sit down; I've been wanting to talk to you."

Seven didn't look surprised as she sank into the chair. Chakotay couldn't help noting as she tucked her long legs gracefully under the chair that she would have made a good ballerina, but her next works jolted him from this thought. "I apologise for my…outburst on the Flyer Commander, it was unacceptable behaviour."

"Yes…it was." Chakotay told her slowly, "But then my behaviour was just as bad…if not worse, so let's just forget about it, okay?"

Surprise then relief dawned in her blue eyes before her head bobbed in a robotic nod, "As you wish."

"Good." Said Chakotay, pleased. "What I was going to say is that I was very…impressed by your words at the funeral, I could've never come up with something so meaningful and personal."

Seven winced and avoided his gaze. "I highly doubt Commander Kelly would've appreciated being compared to a Borg."

"You're not a Borg." Chakotay reminded her firmly, "I think he would've appreciated you giving him the baseball results most of all."

Seven blushed deeply. "You heard that?"

"Yes, I did." He answered with a gentle smile.

Embarrassed Seven suddenly thrust something into his lap, the rock from the Flyer. When he looked at her questioningly she said, "You should keep a piece of history."

"Yeah…" Chakotay agreed, turning the rock in his fist before pressing it gently back into her hand. "It's yours, to remind you of what you, actually both of us, learned."

Seven stared down at the rock in her hand for a moment. "Thank you…" She mumbled before standing up and walking back towards the doorway, "I will leave you to your recuperation."

"Okay…" Chakotay agreed somewhat reluctantly, "Thanks for coming to visit me." She nodded in acknowledgement and left him alone with his PADDS to return alone to her cargo bay, leaving her memento sitting pride of place by her alcove.

**A/n: I was going to end this at the "The Doctor walked into to find him with a soft smile on his face" line, but I decided to continue beyond where the episode went, I hope you agree with my decision. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D**

**Thanks to all my reviewers, Sweetdeath04, lisac1965, LM2MM, Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay, Teal06 and bugman62002 (I hope you liked my P/T scene!). Please review one more time! :D**


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